1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fuel cell stack that includes a cell module including a stacked plurality of single cells, in particular to an improvement of a fuel cell stack that has a voltage measuring function for each single cell or cell module.
2. Related Art
One of such fuel cell stacks as described above has been described in Patent Document 1. The fuel cell stack of Patent Document 1 includes a stacked plurality of cells (single cells), each including a membrane electrode assembly sandwiched between a pair of separators, wherein connector structures protruding to the outside for monitoring voltage are formed in the separators with the same polarity of each cell. In such a fuel cell stack, since the outermost cell at the end of the cell stack has the connector structure for monitoring voltage only on one side, the voltage thereof cannot be monitored.
Thus, the fuel cell stack includes an electrically conductive cover plate, which has the same shape as the separators, and which is disposed at the end of the cell stack, and a connector structure for monitoring voltage is provided in the cover plate. For the fuel cell stack, the voltage is monitored by using the connectors of the separators of adjacent cells. Further, for the cell at the end of the cell stack, the voltage is monitored by using the connector of the cover plate. Accordingly, the voltage can be monitored for all of the cells.